Treadmill

ABSTRACT

A treadmill includes a base, a supporting unit provided on the base, an upper controller located on the supporting unit, a lower controller located on the base and electrically connected to the upper controller, two rollers located on the base, a platform located between the rollers, a magnet attached to the platform, a belt made in the form of a loop wound around the rollers, a motor for driving one of the rollers; and a sensor attached to the base and electrically to both of the upper and lower controllers and for sensing movement of the magnet.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a treadmill and, more particularly, to a treadmill capable of detecting the status of a runner.

2. Related Prior Art

A conventional treadmill includes a supporting unit located on a base. An upper controller is located in a control panel located on the supporting unit. Two rollers are located on the base. A platform is located between the rollers. A belt is in the form of a loop wound around the rollers. A motor is used to drive one of the rollers. A lower controller is electrically connected to the motor and the upper controller. The actuation, pausing and stopping of the motor is under the control of the upper controller via the lower controller. A runner can run on the belt. The runner gets tired, slows down, and needs a break after running on the belt for some time. The control panel gets out of the reach of the runner as the runner slows down. Thus, the runner cannot stop the motor by operating the control panel. The runner could lose balance, tumble over, and get hurt, and this is a problem.

A treadmill is equipped with a sensor as disclosed in Taiwanese Patent Publication No. 552956. The sensor is electrically connected to the upper controller, and includes an emitter and a receiver. The emitter emits light. If the light hits a runner, some of the light is reflected. The receiver receives the reflected light, and the upper controller accordingly determines that there is a runner running on the belt and therefore keeps the motor running. If the runner slows down, he or she gets further from the control panel. The light misses the runner and is not reflected. The receiver does not receive any reflected light, and the upper controller accordingly determines that the runner is slowing down and therefore stops the motor. The receiver could however fail to receive any of the reflected light as the reflected light scatters. This could cause the upper control to wrongly determine that the runner is slowing down and stop the motor.

A treadmill is equipped with a sensor as disclosed in Taiwanese Patent M241070. The sensor is electrically connected to the upper controller, and includes an emitter and a receiver. The emitter emits infrared light. If the infrared light hits a runner, some of the infrared light is reflected. The receiver receives the reflected infrared light, and the upper controller determines the distance of the runner from the sensor. If the distance gets shorter, the upper controller instructs the motor to speed up. If the distance gets longer, the upper controller makes the motor slow down. Thus, the runner stays in a predetermined zone on the belt no matter how fast or slowly he or she runs. The runner tends to rush toward the control panel to operate the control panel to stop the motor when he or she feels tired and would like to stop. Such movement however reduces the distance of the runner from the sensor and causes the upper controller to increase the speed of the motor to carry the runner back to the predetermined zone, and this is against the will of the runner to reach the control panel.

A treadmill is equipped with a portable controller as disclosed in Taiwanese Patent M278420. The portable controller includes a circuit board and at least one battery for energizing the circuit board. The circuit board includes several buttons formed thereon. The portable controller communicates with the upper controller in a wireless manner. The portable controller is operable to measure the pulse of a runner, change the speed of the motor and the angle of the belt. The portable controller however interferes with the movement of the runner's hand. Moreover, the portable controller might slip from the runner's hand and hurt someone nearby.

The present invention is therefore intended to obviate or at least alleviate the problems encountered in prior art.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

It is an objective of the present invention to provide a safe and economic treadmill.

To achieve the foregoing objective, the treadmill includes a base, a supporting unit provided on the base, an upper controller located on the supporting unit, a lower controller located on the base and electrically connected to the upper controller, two rollers located on the base, a platform located between the rollers, a magnet attached to the platform, a belt made in the form of a loop wound around the rollers, a motor for driving one of the rollers; and a sensor attached to the base and electrically to both of the upper and lower controllers and for sensing movement of the magnet.

Other objectives, advantages and features of the present invention will be apparent from the following description referring to the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The present invention will be described via detailed illustration of two embodiments referring to the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a treadmill according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged partial view of the treadmill shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is another enlarged partial view of the treadmill shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional partial view of the treadmill shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional partial view of the treadmill in another position than shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a circuit of the treadmill shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of the operation of the treadmill shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional partial view of a treadmill according to the second embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 is a perspective partial view of the treadmill shown in FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a treadmill 10 includes a base 20, a supporting unit 30, an upper controller 40, a lower controller 50, two rollers 60, a platform 70, a belt 80 and a sensor assembly 90 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The supporting unit 30 is provided on the base 20. The upper controller 40 is located on the supporting unit 30. The lower controller 50 is located on the base 20 and electrically connected to the upper controller 40. The rollers 60 located on the base 20. The platform 70 is located on the base 20 and between the rollers 60. The belt 80 is made in the form of a loop wound around the rollers 60, with a section thereof supported on an upper face of the platform 70. A motor 82 is used to drive one of the rollers 60. The sensor assembly 90 is located on the base 20 and electrically to both of the upper and lower controllers 40 and 50.

Referring to FIGS. 2 through 5, a magnet assembly 72 is attached to a lower face of the platform 70 by a mount 71. The mount 71 is an L-shaped metal element including two sections extending perpendicular to each other. The first section of the mount 71 is secured to the platform 70 by a screw. The magnet assembly 72 includes a magnet 74 located in a plastic element 73 attached to the second section of the mount 71 by another screw 75. The plastic element 73 includes a split anchor 76 inserted through an aperture defined in the second section of the mount 71. Therefore, the magnet assembly 72 is retained in position on the mount 71.

Referring to FIG. 6, the sensor assembly 90 includes a Hall integrated circuit (“IC”) 93 provided on and electrically connected to a circuit board 92. The circuit board 92 is electrically to both of the upper and lower controllers 40 and 50. Four isolating rods 94 are provided between the circuit board 92 and the base 20 as shown in FIG. 5. Each of the isolating rods 94 includes an insert extending from an end and a screw hole defined in another end. The insert of each of the isolating rods 94 is fit in an aperture defined in the base 20. A screw is inserted in the screw hole of each of the isolating rods 94 through an aperture defined in the circuit board 92. Thus, the sensor assembly 90 is attached to but electrically isolated from the base 20. A cover 91 is used to protectively cover the circuit board 92 and the Hall IC 93. The cover 91 is attached to the base 20 by screws. There is a gap 95 between the Hall IC 93 and the magnet 74, and the gap 95 is preferably 3 to 5 millimeters.

The magnet 74 defines a magnetic field for the Hall IC 93, with a voltage. The platform 70 vibrates as a runner runs thereon. The magnet 74 reciprocates as the platform 70 vibrates. Thus, a voltage difference occurs in the Hall IC 93, and this is called the “Hall effect.”

In use, at 1, the treadmill is turned on. The motor 82, the upper and lower controllers 40 and 50, and the sensor assembly 90 are turned on.

At 2, a value of voltage measured by the sensor assembly 90 is set to be the zero point

At 3, the Hall IC 93 is used to determine whether a user is running on the platform 70 by sensing movement of the magnet 74 due to vibration of the platform 70.

At 4, the motor 82 continues to operate as it is determined that a runner is running on the platform 70.

At 5, on determining that no runner is running on the platform 70 but the motor 82 is turned on, the upper controller 40 sends warning such as words and an alarm and begins to count. There are two situations that can be considered “no runner is running on the platform 70.” The first situation is that there is not runner on the platform 70. The second situation is that there is person standing still on the platform 70.

At 6, before a first predetermined period of time elapses, the lower controller 50 turns off the motor 82 as the upper controller 40 receives an off signal from a person around the treadmill.

At 7, after the first predetermined period of time elapses, the lower controller 50 turns off the motor 82, and the upper controller 40 begins to count again.

At 8, after a second predetermined period of time elapses, the upper controller 40 turns to a standby status.

Referring to FIGS. 8 and 9, there is shown a treadmill according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The second embodiment is like the first embodiment except two things. At first, the Hall IC 93 is not located on the circuit board 92 of the sensor assembly 90. The Hall IC 93 is however electrically connected to the circuit board 92. The Hall IC 93 is located near the magnet assembly 72 as in the first embodiment. Secondly, the sensor assembly 90 is advantageously located in a place on the treadmill 10 to allow easy access to the sensor assembly 90 for maintenance.

The present invention has been described via the detailed illustration of the embodiments. Those skilled in the art can derive variations from the embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments shall not limit the scope of the present invention defined in the claims. 

1. A treadmill including: a base; a supporting unit provided on the base; an upper controller located on the supporting unit; a lower controller located on the base and electrically connected to the upper controller; two rollers located on the base; a platform located between the rollers; a magnet assembly attached to the platform; a belt made in the form of a loop wound around the rollers; a motor for driving one of the rollers; and a sensor assembly attached to the base and electrically to both of the upper and lower controllers and for sensing movement of the magnet assembly.
 2. The treadmill according to claim 1, wherein the magnet assembly is separated from the sensor assembly by a gap of 3 to 5 millimeters.
 3. The treadmill according to claim 1, wherein the sensor assembly includes: a circuit board attached to the base; and a Hall IC provided on and electrically connected to the circuit board for sensing the movement of the magnet.
 4. The treadmill according to claim 3, wherein the magnet assembly is separated from the Hall IC by a gap of 3 to 5 millimeters.
 5. The treadmill according to claim 3, wherein the sensor assembly includes a cover attached to the base for protectively covering the circuit board and the Hall IC.
 6. The treadmill according to claim 1, wherein the magnet assembly includes: a plastic element attached to the platform; and a magnet located in the plastic element.
 7. The treadmill according to claim 6, wherein the magnet is separated from the sensor assembly by a gap of 3 to 5 millimeters.
 8. The treadmill according to claim 6, including a mount formed with a first section attached to the platform and a second section to which the plastic element is attached by a screw.
 9. The treadmill according to claim 8, wherein the plastic element includes a split anchor forced through an aperture defined in the second section of the mount.
 10. The treadmill according to claim 8, wherein the first and second sections of the mount extend in perpendicular to each other. 